Whether we like it or not, the Evil Deadremake is coming down the pike, courtesy of director Fede Alvarez (Panic Attack!) and writer Diablo Cody (Juno). Will this be one of the few horror remakes to actually end up being good? One can only hope.

Cody (who wrote the script for the upcoming movie Young Adult) has been talking about the Evil Dead remake, describing this version of the classic film series as reality-grounded. She also said she wouldn’t have gotten involved if original creators Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell hadn’t been involved. Check it out what she had to say, below.

“It was really important again to the filmmakers that it remain totally grounded in reality and timeless. They weren’t trying to make some hip trendy horror movie full of pop culture references. I really hope people don’t think that that’s what I was hired to do. I came in and worked on characters and relationships, things like that.”

This jibes with the news that the film’s plot will involve drug addiction. In fact, the reason the characters in the story go out to an abandoned cabin in the woods is because a younger sister needs to be weaned off narcotics, which makes it difficult for them to realize that she has been possessed by the Evil Dead.

On the one hand, wasn’t the Evil Dead series as popular as it was because of how unrealistic and over-the-top the films were? Everybody’s favorite possessed severed hand can hardly be called true-to-life. On the other hand, if the filmmakers are going to go to the trouble to remake the original, maybe it’s a not a bad thing that they’re doing something altogether different.

A few days ago, Cody talked with Collider about the film’s extreme level of violence, saying:

“Because the director’s draft was really scary, I tried to stay away from some of the big horror set pieces. I didn’t wanna mess with his vision, because he’s the one who ultimately has to shoot it. That being said, there is a moment near the—I mean it’s unbelievably violent (laughs). Occasionally I threw in a wound here or there. I didn’t write anything extravagant.”

She also talked about concerns that fans of the series would be upset that she had been brought on as a writer, due to her trademark dialogue style:

“[H]onestly, I was so excited to do [write the Evil Dead remake]. I wouldn’t have even gotten involved if Sam [Raimi] and Bruce Campbell hadn’t been involved as well, they’re producing it, and so of course I was like ‘All right, I have to do this,’ because I’m such a fan of the original, and the whole original series in fact. But I was nervous to take the job because I thought, ‘Ugh, I’m gonna get **** for this. People are not gonna like this, because all people know of me is like Juno and they think I’m gonna pollute Evil Dead with like wacky dialogue and cute stuff and folk music,’ and it’s like ‘No, look, I understand what this is. I’m interested in storytelling here and making it scary and good and true to the original.’ I feel like people will hopefully see Young Adult and go ‘Oh, okay that’s a horrifying movie maybe she could pull it off (laughs).'”

Honestly, there’s nothing Diablo Cody has said so far that’s sounds terrible or out-of-bounds, but like most horror remakes, it’s difficult to have high hopes for the end product. Or even medium hopes. Still, I’m willing to give her (and Alvarez) the benefit of the doubt, at least until we see some footage.

Do you want to see an extremely violent Evil Dead remake that’s grounded in reality? Let us know in the comments.